Doctor Who_ Bad Therapy - Matthew Jones [65]
The Doctor closed his eyes, unable to prevent himself imagining Roslyn Forrester’s features appearing on the face of one of the Toys. His throat became dry and he swallowed uncomfortably. ‘I see,’ he whispered hoarsely. It was all he could manage.
Julia didn’t appear to have noticed his discomfort. ‘The Toys have also provided physical care for their patients,’ she said, ‘releasing friends and family of the mentally ill from any caring responsibilities. It was this aspect of their 109
design which assured that the Institute was able to secure major government funding.’
‘I can see that would be politically attractive,’ the Doctor murmured, recovering his composure. ‘So what went wrong?’
‘Some of the Toys became. . . unreliable. Anti-therapeutic.’
‘Anti-therapeutic?’
Taking the remote control from the Doctor, Julia pressed a button and said,
‘Watch.’
The whole ward fast-forwarded crazily around them as Julia searched through the hologrammatic recording. As night spiralled into day and back again, half-glimpsed images flickered across the Doctor’s vision – it felt as if he had fallen into a video recorder.
Julia slowed the recording to show scenes of Benjamin and Ned playing football, building a den and watching movies together. The last image was of Ben and Ned in the ward, where they were teasing some of the other patients and Toys. The boys were being aggressive and rude; Ben hovered slightly behind Ned, looking pleased to be getting into trouble.
The hologram froze – the words FILE 786: JONES, BENJAMIN. FILE STATUS: CLOSED appeared floating in the air in front of them. Julia deactivated the device and the hologrammatic scene faded to reveal the now silent ward. The beds and equipment had all been removed, only the blank-faced mannequins remained, littered throughout the room. A forest of dormant Toys. Some were slumped in chairs, others stood with their heads resting on their chests, several had collapsed on to the floor. The summer sunshine had disappeared with the hologram, in the cold grey of the early October morning the flesh of the mannequins looked loose, pale and stained.
Once loved, now abandoned, like forgotten children’s toys. The Doctor smiled grimly to himself. Julia was speaking again, he struggled to listen to what she was saying.
‘Ned became more rebellious and difficult – reacting to some deep desire in Benjamin no doubt – daring him to do increasingly mischievous and dangerous stunts.’ She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. ‘Benjamin was killed when Ned encouraged him to climb on to the roof of the Institute.’
There were tears welling in her eyes as she spoke. ‘Our fault. My fault.’
The Doctor turned away from the Toys to look at her. ‘And so the government closed the project down?’
Julia nodded and walked over to the window. ‘We’re just mopping up now.
Most of the Toys have been destroyed. These are all that remain. Well, except for –’ she stopped herself.
The Doctor sighed as several pieces of the puzzle fell into place. ‘Except for those that escaped.’
110
Julia looked startled. ‘How could you know about that?’
He joined her at the window. Outside the trees had lost most of their leaves.
No one had bothered to rake up the fallen leaves which had been left to form a soggy brown carpet on the lawns.
The Doctor put his hand gently, tentatively, on her shoulder. ‘Oh I think I’ve found your Toys. Or rather I’ve found what’s left of them.’ He told her about the mysterious killings in London. About the victims with no pasts and only one significant but new relationship in their lives. When he finished his account, he looked at her directly and asked, ‘Did you arrange the deaths of the Toys in Soho, Doctor Mannheim?’
‘No.’ She shrank back a little under the Doctor’s piercing gaze. Julia was shocked at how important the Doctor’s approval had become to her in the short time that they had known each other. ‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t know that the Toys that had escaped had reached that far.